Three years of such companionship at that plastic and impressionable age were bound to leave in the boy a profound mistrust of life. The young man learned to reflect, which is a destructive process, a reckoning of the cost.Victory: An Island Tale - Page 103by Joseph Conrad - 1915 - 415 pagesFull view - About this book

...that right to absolute moral and intellectual <l liberty of which he no longer believed them worthy, v Three years of such companionship at that plastic...reflect, which is a destructive process, a reckoning f of the cost. It is not the clear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished...

...without suffering and almost without a single care in the world — invulnerable because elusive. m FOR fifteen years Heyst had wandered, invariably courteous...destructive process, a reckoning of the cost. It is not the dear-sighted who lead the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm mental fog,...